Suffocation
by Hamano Chiaki
Summary: The pain of losing a loved one is painful. It's suffocating. Character death. SklxV. SkullxViper. For a writing contest on FB.


Suffocation

_It's tight,_

It's painful.

I try with all my might,

I feel so sinful.

He sucks in a shuddering breath. He has only one shot at this. One attempt to end it all. To end his misery.

xx

A group of seven are seated in the front room, their expressions grave. Eyes gaze, unfocused, at the black envelope on the coffee table, fearing the worst had come along with the removal of their curse fifteen years ago.

Reborn, in his mid thirties, has his face stony and his sharp eyes shadowed from prying eyes whilst Uni cries into his suit, her sobs muffled into the Armani suit. An affectionate hand belonging to Fon pats the twenty-year-old woman on the head, an old habit since meeting her.

Lal Mirch is stoic, her forehead resting on her hands that are rested on her knees as she keeps her eyes shut. Colonnello's hand plays with her hair absent-mindedly, as if in a daze, as the news begins to sink in whilst Verde fiddles with his spectacles.

Skull is left grief-stricken in a worn out armchair. His gloved hands grip the armrests tightly, his fingers digging into the soft material and his knuckles turning white under the synthetic leather of his biking gloves. His mind is empty save for two words that repeat painfully, monotonously.

_She's gone._

xx

_"Hey, Vye. Where do you think we'll be in ten years' time?"_

His question is unexpected and so is his soft, serene smile that is directed at her. Without his usual makeup and the lack of his many accessories, Skull seems more "normal", like a normal bike enthusiast. However, his lip-piercing that conjoins to an earring by a chain remains.

"Heellooo..? Is anyone under that hood?", he singsongs as he moves to cheekily pull her hood up. She snaps back into reality and whacks his hand away from her hood.

"Touch my hood and you'll be fined, you lackey.", she grumbles, earning a soft chuckle from the stuntman, who leans closer to her head.

"Lackey I may be, but I'll be yours for eternity.", he whispers softly and presses a soft kiss on the side of her head.

xx

_This suffocation,_

This pain.

Won't someone,

Show me the way?

He's prepared for this. Months of detailed preparation. Months of lonely misery.

xx

Breathing in a shuddering breath, Skull rises from the armchair, his joints popping. As he runs a hand through his hair, he is wary of the multiple sets of eyes probing holes into his entire being. Uni's being the most painful one of all.

She knew. She'd foresaw this happening and couldn't do anything about it, yet, a heavy weight had settled in her gut since her premonition. Her fingers dig into Reborn's arm, her face tear-stained as she watches Skull's near robotic movements.

"S-Skull-kun..?", she asks hesitantly, concerned for the silent Cloud. He freezes slightly at her voice before turning to her, cracking a small grin. He walks up to her and ruffles the crown of her head.

"Skull-sama's fine..! Just fine...", the man's eyes crinkle slightly as his lips pull into a bigger grin. However, his grin is wiped off as a hand grabs him by the neck and pushes him up against the wall behind him.

"You're not fine, you damn lackey!", Reborn growls at the stuntman, spicy cologne and the scent of gunpowder wafting from the hit man. Skull grabs the arm pressing him against the wall and maneuvers a reversal, throwing everyone witnessing off guard.

"What's your problem? I said I'm fine.", Skull growls back, pushing Reborn away before striding out.

xx

_"Woah!", Skull breathes out, his eyes wide as he jumped aside in time to avoid an incoming onslaught of illusionary blades just as he had opened the door to his girlfriend's room. Once he's sure that no more blades or anything dangerous would be flying his way, he pokes his head through the doorway._

There, seated in the centre of the heavily incense scented room, is Viper. His face scrunches up as thick puffs of lavender and rosemary invade his nostrils. The stuntman is forced to pinch his nose shut.

"Hey, Wye...", he calls out nasally. "Cuth bown on the ihncense!"

He then dramatically waves his free arm around, as if his very motion could rid the air of the incense. Soon, he begins to run out of breath and is forced to remove his fingers from pinching his nose. As he gulps in the air greedily, his pupils roll up as he crashes onto the floor on his back from the sudden dose of incense.

Viper rolls her eyes at her idiot of a boyfriend. There goes five euro worth of incense into his lungs. "You owe me five euro when you wake up, Skull."

xx

_I'm stuck and drained,_

Sanity gone away.

It's hard to keep that smile,

From fading away.

He fingers the eye shield of his helmet, wiping imaginary dust off. He pulls the piece of tempered glass off and replaces it with another. He won't have to see the light ever again.

xx

Rain falls heavily from the dark sky, pelting down onto the many black umbrellas at the cemetery. What a cliche setting for a funeral, Skull thinks to himself. There wasn't a need for a funeral for Viper, seeing as she never left a corpse to be buried, but they felt the need to have a funeral in remembrance of the money-loving illusionist.

The Varia and Vongola attend the ceremony. Lussuria openly weeps into his dainty lace handkerchief whilst quiet tears track down the rest of the Varia's grave faces, save for Xanxus who has his eyebrows furrowed and eyes bloodshot.

Vongola's important figures are present, their expressions filled with sorrow. Tsunayoshi and Timoteo have their eyes fixed on the empty coffin that is being lowered whilst the others have their heads bowed to the ground. A powerful ally is lost in the circle of life. There is nothing they can do but to accept that she is gone.

Death doesn't coming knocking on your door, especially when you're part of the underworld. It barges in, often with a gun, and whisks you away before you know it.

xx

_"Holy Skull-sama! You're a girl?!"_

Viper jumps at the sudden voice and cloaks herself with her hood, cursing mentally at her carelessness for not locking her door. She moved to cast an illusion over her before signing in resignation. Might as well reveal her gender to at least one person in the Arcobaleno.

"Yes, I'm a female. What's it to you?", she answers monotonously and turns around to face the Cloud. To her surprise, he's blushing furiously, his face as red as a boiled octopus.

"Y-you're really p-pretty, Viper...!", he stutters out, clearly embarrassed.

"Hn, for entering my quarters without prior permission, I'm fining you a measly cost five hundred euro."

"F-five hundred?", Skull splutters out. "Come on, Viper! Go easy on your little lackey, will you? Four hundred!"

"Four hundred and fifty.", Viper monotones, a hint of irritation dripping through.

"Four hundred and twenty!", he pleads.

"Four hundred and eighty. Take it or leave it.", at the rate the haggling is going, Viper is not going to be one happy illusionist and Skull won't be having any nice dreams for the next fortnight.

"Five hundred and ten euro!", Skull yells out before slapping his hands over his mouth.

"Deal."

"N-no, wait! I didn't mean to!", Skull resorts to his final attempt of rescuing what little savings he has. "Let me take you out to dinner!"

xx

_I can't breathe,_

I can't think.

I can't hold on,

Don't let me sink.

He slips the helmet on and adjusts it so that it is comfortable. Just go wheelie straight on, go up the ramp and it'll be over, he chants to himself. It'll be over soon enough.

xx

Over the weeks after Viper's sudden passing, the Arcobaleno had pulled off various attempts at reconnecting with their once loud Cloud. However, their efforts are in vain. With an addition in the form of a purple teardrop tattoo on his face, he's lost in the depths of misery within the dark confines of his broken heart.

"S-skull?"

Eyes probe as the stuntman appears through the doorway and into the dining room, dropping himself into the empty seat meant for him. They'd removed Viper's chair in efforts of getting Skull to join them for meals. Uni immediately gets up and grabs a plate along, piling it up with food, with the needed cutleries for Skull, setting it down before him.

Eyes continue to probe as he picks up the cutlery and begins to cut the steak into small pieces to eat. Sighing softly, Skull looks up with a bored look. "What? Never seen a man eat before?"

There are murmurs of disagreement from the rest before continuing to dig into their food. Skull digs into his' soon after everyone else does. The small quirks on their lips don't go unnoticed.

_Just perfect._

xx

_"Hmmm? What was that, Viper?", he inquires whilst he places a small, octopus-shaped bandage over a cut he'd received during his latest stunt._

"I want you to stop doing those stunts, Skull.", she monotones and his flinch does not go unnoticed. Skull resumes to bandaging what little cuts he has, silent the entire time.

"You don't have to worry about me...", he stands up, his riding gear top hanging on his arm, the cartoonish bandages littering his body. Skull moves towards the illusionist, looming over her petite frame and presses a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I have a body that the Reaper rejects after all.", the stuntman murmurs and cracks a cheeky grin at the hooded woman.

"Shut up, lackey.", she grumbles as her face burns hotly.

xx

_Pull me up,_

Don't let me down.

My time is up,

My heart's going down.

He can hear the roar of the crowd, muffled by the walls and helmet on his head. The emcee yells loudly into the microphone.

**"GET READY FOR THE MAN THE REAPER REJECTS!"**

xx

Skull tweaks at his motorcycle's engine and makes some slight adjustment to it. A small spanner is clamped in between his pursed lips as he works on it. Oil stains dot his tracksuit but it doesn't matter. When he's done with this, he won't need it ever again.

He whacks at a couple of parts, loud odd clunks sounding from within the stunt vehicle.

_Perfect._

xx

_"What is this?"_

Under the hood of her cloak, she eyes the small paper thing in her hand questionably. It is creased and crinkled on various spots, it's reflective indigo paper smudged with pen ink and what seemed like a frowny face.

"It's Fantasma, of course!", Skull exclaims, elated. "I made it myself. Do you like it?"

Viper turns "Fantasma" over and eyes it critically.

"No.", she monotones and Skull deflates in dejection. "However, I appreciate the sentiment. Thank you."

Viper's lips twitch in temptation to crack a smile at the joyful jump Skull does.

xx

_For all the good I've done,_

Nothing can save me.

The pressure,

The hurt,

Suffocates me.

**"IT'S SKUUULLLL!"**

This is it.

xx

A loud rev and he burns rubber on the dirt ground for a split second, speeding off towards the ramp. His vision blocked by his opaque eye shield, his engines tinkered and toyed with.

**"W-woah! Skull's bike doesn't seem to be in good shape!"**, the commentator sounds panicked as Skull peels out into the arena, going for a round like he usually does. With the exception of his bikes jerking dangerously as he picks up speed.

Skull can feel the ground underneath the wheels change from dirt to the wooden ramp.

**"Someone get him off that bike!"**, panicked voices and gasps sound from all around as they watch the biker clad in purple ride up the ramp and nears Hell's ring of fire.

It's as if time slowed down as his life flashed by his eyes. The moments of freedom he felt while riding. The moments of bliss he had with Viper. The fun he had with the Arcobaleno. There's no turning back now.

**Burn.**

Screams fill his ears.

xx

_"Remember the question you asked?"_

Fingers entwined, arms swinging softly, Skull did not expect such a question. He nods in acknowledgement of her inquiry, his hand squeezing her smaller one gently.

"Yeah, what about it?", he hums, looking up at the evening sky.

"I thought about it...", Viper pauses for a moment. "I think... I think that in ten years' time, we'll be just as we are together, walking down this path in the evenings."

"Probably with a couple of little me and you's around...", she mumbles under her breath, but Skull catches wind of it. A wide grin splits his lips as he tackles the woman into a hug, causing her hood to fall back. Violet locks spill out from the confines of the hood, splaying around the illusionist's face.

"I hate you, damn lackey.", Viper hisses out (no pun intended) as she struggles in his grip and pulls the hood over her head once more.

"Love you too, Vye."

**THE END**

Aaaaaaaaannnddd, this is my try at angst for a contest by Nija (I'm sorry to have not remembered your pen name!). Lover's death angst. SkullxViper angst. Whatever you call it angst ._. I don't think I did too well for this... I apologize for any OOC-ness, grammatical/spelling mistakes, anything else that bugs you.

Oh well, there's a first for everything c: I hope you enjoyed this!

Please review your thoughts on this, ne?


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